Armed conflict in Afghanistan has changedviews of the Soviet military command on modern domestic weapons. A conviction was formed that a successful outcome of tactical military operations is possible when going beyond the regimes and parameters intended for armament and identifying their shortcomings with subsequent refinement.
In the process of researching various typesfirearms were identified weaknesses in the PKK-74 and PKM - weapons quickly overheated and had insufficient firepower. As a result of the work on modifying the designs and improving the low-impulse cartridges based on the RPK-74 and PKM, a new version of the manual machine gun, known as AEK-999, was created.
The basis for a new light machine gun
During the operation of the RMB there is a fastoverheating. This forces you to take long breaks in use and to replace the barrel. The RPK-74 light machine gun was designed for a 5.45 x 39 mm cartridge. This caliber is characterized by insufficient firepower. At the request of the military command, the Ministry of Defense announced the start of a competition to create a new improved light machine gun, endowed with the advantages of PKM, which is characterized by heat resistance and increased slaughter.
For this purpose, 5.45 x 39 mm ammunition was replaced with others, created specifically for the new weapon. They became the machine gun “Badger” - 7 62 54.
AEK-999. Beginning of work
Work to create an improved manualmachine gun was performed Kovrovsky mechanical plant. This enterprise created the AEK-999 “Badger” project with identical to the initial PKM automation and principle of operation. Weapons designers managed to solve the problem: upgrading the PCM, eliminating its shortcomings and improving the accuracy of fire. Unchanged left receiver, ammunition system and butt. As a result, the AEK-999 “Badger” machine gun had the same rate of fire as its PKM prototype (“The Kalashnikov machine gun modernized”).
Testing new weapons
Одновременно с работой по усовершенствованию PKM machine gun, which was produced at the Kovrovsky Mechanical Plant, according to the conditions of the competition announced by the Ministry of Defense, was carried out by weapons designers of the Central Scientific Research Institute of Precision Engineering. Kovrov workers were involved in the creation of the “Badger” machine gun, and at TsNIITSChMASH - the 6P41 machine gun of the Pecheneg Metallurgical Complex.
At the end of the work in 1999 were heldthe first tests of Pechenega and Badger, after which AEK-999 became interested in the Ministry of the Interior. The development of the TsNIITCHMASH machine gun was approved by the Ministry of Defense, which officially adopted Pecheneg. A small batch of AEK-999 was ordered by the Ministry of the Interior to conduct a series of tests with its special units.
What touched the change?
- Subject to refinement trunk for a new machine gun.The developers managed to eliminate the main disadvantage of the PCM - fast heating when shooting. To this end, the production process used an alloy of steel, which until then had been used in the manufacture of guns for aviation.
- The fixing knot of a receiver withthe trunk. On its surface, a longitudinal ribbing was installed, designed to perform the function of an improvised radiator covered with a plastic forearm. The use of fins prevents the barrel from quickly overheating. And this, in turn, eliminates the fighter from the need to interrupt the firing to replace the barrel. The fins in the machine gun significantly increased the length of the AEK-999 “Barsuk” continuous line. The testing of the Kovrov machine gun shows that a weapon with a slight heating can perform up to 650 shots without replacing the barrel. During the firing of machine guns, the soldiers get a “mirage” effect, which is a distortion of the review. This is due to hot air rising up from the heated barrel. The use of metal tires mounted on top of the barrel, fins acting as a cooling radiator, solved the problem of visual distortion.
- Over the top of the trunkthe gunsmith's designers added a special sharpener, which made it possible to carry the AEK-999 machine gun not only by the handle. The fastener of the metal channel to the barrel of the weapon facilitated its transportation, and also made it possible for the fighter to fire a machine gun from the thigh. Previously, this was difficult, since the weight of the AEK-999 Badger is more than eight kilograms.
- The accuracy of shooting at the “Badger” machine gun was higher compared to PKM due to the use of flame arresters, recoil compensators and a muzzle brake in the design of the new machine gun.
Improved balancing and accuracy of fire
Kovrov weapons engineers duringPCM testing was noticed that the accuracy of the uncomfortable design of the bipod mount assembly negatively affects the accuracy of shooting. For this reason, the AEK-999 machine gun had a muzzle cut, from which the bipod was located at a greater distance than in the PKM. As a result of modernization, the bipods were moved away from the barrel of the machine gun, and improvements in the design of fasteners increased the balance of the weapon. The strength of the bipod, increasing the balancing of the machine gun and ease of use had a positive effect on the accuracy of the battle.
Low Noise Shooting Device
Any machine gun during shooting has a characteristicflaw: produces a loud sound that stuns a fighter. Excess noise is undesirable because, among other things, it unmasks the position of the shooter. In order to eliminate the drawback, the development engineers of the modernized machine gun equipped the AEK-999 with a special device for low-noise shooting - PMS. This made it possible for the fighter to carry out shooting from a distance of 400-600 meters without revealing his position to the enemy, since the sound of shots is now almost unheard of.
During combat operations at nightUsing PMS allows night sights to be used. If the flame ejected from the barrel earlier made normal aiming difficult, then this problem was solved with PMS.
The very first photos in which was depictedA single machine gun AEK-999 “Badger” with a device for low-noise shooting at its trunk, formed among firearms lovers the belief that all series of Kovrov machine guns, as in the design of the BCC rifle, are made with PMS. But it is not. In the case of the AEK-999 devices for low-noise shooting are removable. If necessary, they can be mounted on the barrel of the weapon, depending on the terrain, environmental conditions and time of day, removed and replaced with standard flame arresters from the modernized Kalashnikov machine gun (PKM).
Performance characteristics of AEK-999
- Cartridges of 5.45 x 39 caliber from the RPK-74 are distinguished by weak firepower. When creating a Kovrov modernized weapon, the cartridge was replaced with 7.62 x 54.
- The weight of the machine gun “Badger” AEK-999 is 8.75 kg.
- The length of the weapon is 1188 mm.
- Barrel length - 605 mm.
- The initial speed of the bullet - 825 m / s.
- The length of the continuous queue is 650 rounds per minute.
- Fighting rate per minute - 250 shots.
- Aim range - one and a half kilometers.
- Tape machine gun designed for one hundred and two hundred rounds.
Despite its advantages, the machine gun AEK-999“Badger” did not receive the widespread recognition expected by its designers. Shortly after testing in 1999 a small batch of production of these weapons was closed. The exact number of AEK-999 machine guns currently in use is unknown. Probably, they have already developed their entire resource.
